Improvement in securing combined railroad chair and splice-piece



Nrtnn 'STATES MELVIN W. KNOX, OF SHERIDAN, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN SECURING COMBINED RAILROAD CHAIR AND SPLICE-PIECE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. @0.567, dated November 10, 1863.

T0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MELVIN W. Knox, of the town of Sheridan, (Silver Greek P. 0.,) in the county of Chautauqua and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved -Railroad Chair and Coupling 5' and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, .and to the letters of reference thereon.

The nature ot' my invention consists in making a railroad chair and coupling combined together, which shall rmly support the ends ot' the rails, couple them together with the bolts and keys secured by a spring in such a manner that the concussion of trains of cars in passing over the rails will not only not loosen the fastenings by which the chair and rails are held and coupled, but will be constantly tightening them, as is herein more fully described.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

I construct the chair and coupling out of wrought-iron about one-halt' of an inch thick, about one foot long, and sufficiently wide to form the base of said chair, upon which the ends of the rails rest, and to extend up on the outside to the upp'er surface of the rails, in the form represented in Figure4 of the drawings. The base is sufficiently wide to project inside of therail, in which holes are made, that the same may be spiked to the tie on which it rests, and on the outside notches are made for the same purpose, as shown in Fig. 3, by letters a a. Two oblong holes, 7c k, Fig. 4, are made horizontally in the side of each railroad-chair, about four inches from each end, iu which bolts are fitted on the upper and lower side aboutl three-quarters ot' an inch square. The holes should be about one inch long longitudinally, to allow for the play of the bolts due to the expansion and contraction of the rails, and holes made in the rails to receive said bolts, to which they should be Well fitted. The said bolts have an oblong slot extending and of sufficient length that a portion ot' the same shall be inside of the flange of the chair, which is fitted against the side ofthe rails, to allow the key to hold firmly and press against said chair, and adjust and keep the same closely tted to the outside ot' the rails. This slot in the bolt is shown by letter 7L, Fig. 1, as extending inside of -the chair. A flat iron key, two or three inches long, is fitted in this slot in the bolt, whose inner edge is straight, so as to form a continuous bearing against the hollow part ofthe chair, or where the bolts pass through, and the outer edge is made tapering, and small vertical holes are made in the small end to receive the ends of a spring. rBhe keys d d of the two bolts are held by a spiral or any other equivalent spring, whose two ends are inserted in the holes in the small end of the keys, which spiral or coiled spring, made of steel or other suitable material, serves not only to `hold the keys in place, but is constantly tightening up the keys upon the concussion of the rails by the cars, so that the pressure or jar or concussion of trains ot' cars in passing over the rails secured by my device will not only not loosen the faste'nings, but will constantly strengthen and tighten them.

The tension of the spring may be increased at any time, whenever necessary, by placing the ends thereof in holes in the key nearer to the bolt.

The chair may be double-bolted, if necessary', and have two spiral springs to connect and hold the keys.

Having thus described my invention and its construction and operation, I claim- A railroad chair and coupling combined, together with the bolts and keys secured by a spring, substantially as described, andi'or the purposes set forth.

MELVIN W. KNOX.

In presence of- W. S. SHAW, Gno. H. HUeHsoN. 

